THERMAL SCIENCE

International Scientific Journal

DEVELOPMENT OF DIELECTRIC SENSOR TO MONITOR THE ENGINE LUBRICATING OIL DEGRADATION

ABSTRACT
Present day practice of following fixed schedules of oil change intervals could result in loss for the equipment owner, as the oil is not utilized up-to its maximum useful life. Similarly, the extended use of engine oil beyond maximum useful life is of high risk, which could lead irreversible and catastrophic damages to engine parts. Engine oil condition indicates the condition of engine parts, in any application. Therefore, monitoring the condition of the oil in real time is of paramount importance. Researchers had established that the engine oil degradation correlates with change in dielectric property of the engine oil. The important factor to realize the on-line real time monitoring of the changes in dielectric property of the engine oil is, the cost of dielectric sensor within affordable limit for an operator. Current work aims at developing such a low cost affordable dielectric sensor and engine oil samples (SAE 15W40 grade) were collected from durability test engines used in engine test rig and on-road vehicles. These samples were tested for physical and chemical properties. Any changes in the properties, of engine oil monitored, indicate that it undergoes degradation due to usage. A prototype of capacitive type sensor was developed and validated with reference fluids. The dielectric values measured using proto type sensor in the used oil samples show a correlation with change in physical properties. This trend and thresholds of dielectric provides effective plat form to monitor the engine oil degradation. The sensor could be coupled to a suitable warning device by incorporating specific algorithms.
KEYWORDS
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2015-09-13
PAPER REVISED: 2016-01-18
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2016-02-08
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2016-11-13
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI16S4061B
CITATION EXPORT: view in browser or download as text file
THERMAL SCIENCE YEAR 2016, VOLUME 20, ISSUE Supplement 4, PAGES [S1061 - S1069]
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© 2024 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence